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National carrier Vietnam Airlines has reported a pretax profit of nearly VND1.6 trillion in the first six months, up around 58 percent from a year ago, even as the competition with low-cost VietJet Air is intensifying.

The airline had 9.65 million passengers in the first half, up 15.5 percent year-on-year, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday, citing the company's figures.

That was equivalent to 40.8 percent of the total passengers carried by all Vietnamese airlines in the same period, international services included.

Vietnam's air passenger market grew 27.7 percent compared to the same period last year with local travel seeing a rise of 36.6 percent in the number of passengers and international travel 16.3 percent, according to Vietnam Airlines.

VietJet Air, which was founded in 2007, has yet to announce business results for the period. Its domestic market share was last reported in the first quarter at nearly 40 percent.

Two other carriers in Vietnam are Jetstar Pacific Airlines, a low-cost carrier run by Vietnam Airlines and Australian-owned Qantas, and the national airline's own short-haul carrier VASCO.